KR20130028485A - Touch panel and touch information determining method of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A touch panel and a contact information determining method thereof are provided to simply calculate contact information regardless of the number of touches, to raise a penetration ratio, and to reduce a manufacturing cost. CONSTITUTION: Delivery members(110) are arranged at regular intervals and first and second sensors(120a,120b) are placed on the bottom of first and second ends of a first delivery member. The delivery members deliver a delivery signal by a touch to first and second sensors. The delivery members have flexibility and the delivery signal includes a material wave. The first and the second sensors sensing the delivery signal generate a sensing signal by using a power sensing method. The first and the second sensors include a sensing resistance and a reference resistance connected with first and second voltages in series and output the sensing signal at a contact point between the sensing resistance and the reference resistance.

Description

TOUCH PANEL AND TOUCH INFORMATION DETERMINING METHOD OF TOUCH PANEL}

The present invention relates to a touch panel and a method of determining contact information of the touch panel.

Various display devices such as a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting display, an electrophoretic display, a portable transmission device, and other information processing devices may receive information using various input devices. In recent years, many touch panels have been used as such input devices.

When a finger or a touch pen (touch pen, stylus) or the like touches the touch screen, the touch panel may obtain contact information such as whether the contact is made, the contact position, the force of the contact, and the like. The contact information may be used to write and draw letters or pictures on the display device with a touch panel, or to execute icons to execute a desired command to a machine such as a computer.

The touch panel can obtain contact information by using a resistive type, a capacitive type, an electro-magnetic type, or an optical type depending on how the touch is sensed. type) and force sensing method.

Among these, the force sensing method may be a method of sensing a force due to external contact as an example using a piezoelectric effect. The piezoelectric effect method is a piezoelectric (piezoelectric) effect (piezoelectric effect) method that can be obtained by determining the contact information by using the phenomenon that the electrical resistance changes when a pressure is applied to a specific material.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a touch panel that can determine the contact position and the contact strength by a single or multi-touch.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel with high transmittance.

Another problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the edge area of the touch panel and to reduce the manufacturing cost.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel that can be applied to a flexible display device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel includes a plurality of transmission members arranged at regular intervals, and first and second ends positioned at both ends of first and second ends of the plurality of transmission members, respectively. And a first sensor and a second sensor, wherein the plurality of transfer members transmit the transfer signals by contact to the first sensor and the second sensor, respectively.

The transmission member is flexible, and the transmission signal may include a material wave.

At least one of the first sensor and the second sensor that detects the transmission signal may generate a detection signal by using a force detection method.

At least one of the first sensor and the second sensor includes a reference resistor and a sense resistor connected in series between a first voltage and a second voltage, the sensing signal at a contact between the reference resistor and the sense resistor. You can output

The resistance value of the sensing resistor may vary depending on the magnitude of the transmission signal.

The magnitude of the sensing signal may be proportional to the magnitude of the transmission signal.

The number of contact positions is determined using at least one of the number of first sensing signals generated by the first sensor and the number of second sensing signals generated by the second sensor, and the temporal position of the first sensing signal and The coordinates of the contact position are calculated using the temporal position of the second sensing signal, and the contact intensity is determined using at least one of the magnitude of the first sensing signal and the magnitude of the second sensing signal and the coordinates of the contact position. You can judge.

When it is determined that a neighboring transmission member of the plurality of transmission members is in contact, the coordinates of an intermediate point between the neighboring transmission members may be output.

A first support portion positioned below the first end of the first transfer member and positioned outside the first sensor, and positioned below the second end of the first transfer member and positioned outside the second sensor. It may further include a support.

The apparatus may further include a protective film positioned on the plurality of transfer members.

The plurality of transmission members may be alternately connected at the left end and the right end.

The first sensor and the second sensor may be located at each end of two transmission members positioned at an edge of the plurality of transmission members connected to the one.

The apparatus may further include wave absorbing members positioned at both ends of each of the plurality of transfer members.

It may further include an absorbing member positioned between the plurality of delivery members.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of determining contact information of a touch panel includes a plurality of transmission members arranged at a predetermined interval in a first direction, and first ends that are both ends of the first transmission member among the plurality of transmission members; In the touch panel including a first sensor and a second sensor located below the second end, respectively, the first sensor and the second sensor detects the transmission signal transmitted by the first transmission member, and the Processing the sensed transmission signal to generate a first sensed signal and a second sensed signal.

Determining the number of contact positions with respect to a transmission member using the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, the contact position using the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the temporal position of the second sensing signal. The method may further include determining a coordinate of and determining the contact strength by using at least one of the magnitude of the first sensing signal and the magnitude of the second sensing signal and the coordinate of the contact position.

When the number of contact positions is two or more, determining the coordinates of the contact positions may include calculating coordinates of at least one contact position, respectively.

When the number of contact positions is two or more, determining the coordinates of the contact positions may include calculating coordinates of a reference position among at least one contact position, and remaining contact positions other than the reference position among the two or more contact positions. And calculating a distance between the reference position.

Determining a first axis coordinate of a contact position using the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the temporal position of the second sensing signal, and transmitting the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. The method may further include determining a second axis coordinate of the contact position by using the position of the member.

The method may further include outputting an average of coordinates of the plurality of transmitting members contacted at the same time as coordinates of one contact position when it is determined that the neighboring transmitting members are in contact at the same time.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, contact information such as a contact position and a contact strength may be simply calculated regardless of the number of contacts to the touch panel. It can also increase the transmittance of the touch panel, reduce manufacturing costs, and reduce edge areas. The touch panel according to the present embodiment can be easily applied to and used in the flexible display device.

1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel shown in FIG. 1;
3 is a circuit diagram of a sensor of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel when a point of one transfer member of the touch panel shown in FIG. 2 is in contact;
5 is a waveform diagram of a transmission signal transmitted along a transmission member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention,
6 is a graph showing the magnitude of the transmission signal shown in FIG.
7 is a graph of sensing signals of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention,
8 and 9 are flowcharts illustrating operations of a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, respectively.
10 is a plan view of a touch panel when a point of one transfer member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention is in contact;
FIG. 11 is a plan view of a touch panel when two transmission members of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are in contact with each other;
12 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel when two points of one transmission member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are contacted;
13 is a plan view of a touch panel when two points of one transfer member of the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention are contacted;
14 is a graph of a detection signal when two points of one transmission member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are contacted,
15 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel when three points of one transfer member of the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention are contacted;
16 is a plan view of a touch panel when two points of one transfer member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are contacted;
17 is a graph of a detection signal when three points of one transmission member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are contacted,
18 is a graph illustrating an example of a magnitude of a transmission signal compensated according to a distance between a sensor and a contact position of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;
19, 20, 21 and 22 are cross-sectional views of a touch panel according to one embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

In the drawings, the thickness is enlarged to clearly represent the layers and regions. Like parts are designated with like reference numerals throughout the specification. Whenever a portion of a layer, film, region, plate, or the like is referred to as being "on" another portion, it includes not only the case where it is "directly on" another portion, but also the case where there is another portion in between. Conversely, when a part is "directly over" another part, it means that there is no other part in the middle.

First, a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a sensor of the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. .

1 and 2, the touch panel 100 according to an exemplary embodiment may be a touch panel that may be attached or embedded in various display devices 300. The display device 300 may be various types of display devices, such as a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting display, an electrowetting display, and an electrophoretic display. The display device 300 may be flexible. FIG. 2 illustrates an example in which the touch panel 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is attached to a surface of an image of the display device 300, but is not limited thereto. The panel 100 may be embedded in the display device 300.

The touch panel 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of transmitting members 110, a plurality of supports 130, a plurality of pairs of first sensors 120a, and The second sensor 120b is included.

The plurality of transmission members 110 may be arranged at a predetermined interval D that is not zero in the first direction, that is, the vertical direction. Each transmission member 110 may extend in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, that is, in a horizontal direction, and the width W (hereinafter, referred to as “width”) of the transmission member 110 in a vertical direction may be constant. . Therefore, the pitch of the plurality of transmission members 110 may also be constant. The width W of the transmission member 110 may be 4 mm or more and 8 mm, and the distance D between neighboring transmission members 110 may be greater than 0 μm and less than or equal to 150 μm. More specifically, the distance D between the transfer members 110 may be 50 μm or more and 120 μm or less. The transverse length of the transmission member 110 may be equal to or smaller than the transverse width of the touch panel.

The transmission member 110 may be made of a flexible material that is flexible and can transmit waves due to external contact. The wave by external contact can be a material wave, more specifically a shear wave or surface acoustic wave. The wave transmitted by the transmission member 110 by such external contact is called a transmission signal. The propagation speed of the transmitted signal may be constant regardless of the influence of the intensity of external contact or interference between various waves. The smaller the density of the transmission member 110 is, in order to reduce the speed of the transmission signal to facilitate differentiation and analysis of the transmission signal. The delivery member 110 may be transparent.

Unlike the illustrated in FIG. 1, the plurality of transmission members 110 may be arranged in a horizontal direction, and each of the transmission members 110 may extend in the vertical direction.

The pair of support portions 130 are positioned at the lower ends of the first and second ends, which are both ends of the one transmission member 110, respectively, to support the transmission member 110.

The pair of first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b are positioned at the lower ends of the first and second ends, which are both ends of the one transmitting member 110, respectively, and the transmission signal transmitted by the transmitting member 110. The detection signal may be generated by processing the detected transmission signal. The first and second sensors 120a and 120b may be located inside the transfer member 110 than the support 130. The distance L between the pair of first sensors 120a and the second sensor 120b may be constant.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b may be attached to the display device 300 by using an adhesive. In contrast, the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b may be attached to the display device 300. A separate adhesive may not be necessary, including a temporary adhesive member.

Referring to FIG. 3, each of the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b according to an embodiment of the present invention is in series between two constant voltages, for example, a reference voltage Vcc and a ground voltage GND. The reference resistor Rf and the sense resistor Rs may be connected to each other. The reference resistor Rf may be a fixed resistor and the sense resistor Rs may be a variable resistor. The sense resistor Rs is connected to the reference voltage Vcc and the reference resistor Rf is connected to the ground voltage. The voltage at the contact between the reference resistor Rf and the sense resistor Rs is output as the sense signal Vt. The value of this sensing signal Vt may be calculated by the following equation (1).

[Equation 1]

Vt = Vcc * (Rf / (Rf + Rs))

The sensing resistor Rs according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may use a force sensing method, and its resistance value may be changed by external force contacted. Specifically, when a pressure is applied to the transmission member 110 to generate a transmission signal, and thus the transmission signal is detected by the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b, the resistance value of the sensing resistor Rs may be changed. In this case, the resistance value of the sensing resistor Rs may vary depending on the energy of the transmission signal, that is, the magnitude E of the transmission signal. For example, when the magnitude E of the transmission signal is zero, that is, when there is no pressure due to external contact on the transmission member 110, the resistance value of the sensing resistor Rs is sufficiently large (e.g. close to infinity). Value), and as the magnitude E of the transmission signal increases, the resistance value of the sensing resistor Rs may decrease. The sensing resistor Rs may use a piezoelectric effect among the force sensing methods.

Therefore, the value of the detection signal Vt expressed in Equation 1 may be approximately proportional to the magnitude E of the transmission signal. For example, when the magnitude E of the transmission signal is 0, the detection signal Vt may be approximately 0 or a value close to 0, and as the magnitude E of the transmission signal increases, the detection signal Vt may increase. If the magnitude of the external contact is very large and the magnitude (E) of the transmission signal is very large, the value of the sense resistor (Rs) may be close to zero and the sense signal (Vt) may be approximately equal to the reference voltage (Vcc). 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be described in the operation method of the touch panel according to the embodiment shown in Figs.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel when a point of one transmission member of the touch panel shown in FIG. 2 is touched, and FIG. 5 is a transmission signal transmitted along the transmission member of the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a graph showing the magnitude of the transmission signal shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a graph of the detection signal of the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, when an external contact is applied to one contact point P1 of the transmission member 110 of the touch panel according to the exemplary embodiment, the transmission signal St generated at the contact point P1 is transmitted to the transmission member. It propagates along both sides along the 110 to reach the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b, respectively. Depending on the distance from the contact point P1 to the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b, the arrival time of each of the sensors 120a and 120b of the transmission signal St may vary.

5 and 6, the amplitude of the transmission signal St gradually decreases with time or distance, so that the magnitude E of the transmission signal St is also proportional to the square of the amplitude of the transmission signal St. And decrease with distance. As described above, the magnitude E of the transmission signal may be approximately proportional to the magnitudes of the detection signals Vt output by the first and second sensors 120a and 120b.

Each of the first and second sensors 120a and 120b processes the recognized transmission signal St to generate a detection signal Vt. This process may include filtering to facilitate discrimination between the sensed signal Vt of the transfer signal St. In detail, in the filtering step, some attenuation regions Aa of the transmission signal St shown in FIG. 5 may be filtered out. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the attenuation region Aa ′ of the graph showing the magnitude E of the transmission signal may be removed to generate a detection signal Vt having a pulse shape. The widths of the removed attenuation regions Aa and Aa 'illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 may be appropriately adjusted according to various conditions of the touch panel. The position of the sensing signal Vt generated by such filtering may mean the first position of the sensing signal Vt in which each sensing signal Vt has the highest value, and the magnitude of the sensing signal Vt is the sensing signal ( It may mean the highest value of Vt).

Referring to FIG. 7, a time position T1 (hereinafter referred to as a “position”) of the first detection signal Vt1 output by the first sensor 120a may indicate that the first sensor 120a transmits the transmission signal St. It is regarded as the same time to recognize. Similarly, the position T2 of the second sensing signal Vt2 output by the second sensor 120b is considered to be the same as the time when the second sensor 120b recognizes the transmission signal St.

The number and position T1 of the first sensing signal Vt1 and the number and position T2 of the second sensing signal Vt2 may vary depending on the number and position of the contact with respect to the corresponding transmission member 110. . When there are a plurality of contact positions with respect to one transmitting member 110, the sensing signals Vt1 and Vt2 of the sensors 120a and 120b may also be plural. In addition, when the contact position of the transmitting member 110 is the center between the first and second sensors 120a and 120b, the temporal positions of the first sensing signal Vt1 and the second sensing signal Vt2 may be the same. When the contact position of the transmitting member 110 is closer to the first sensor 120a, the position of the first sensing signal Vt1 may be located to the left of the position of the second sensing signal Vt2. Also

Various contact information may be determined or obtained using the number, location, and size of the detection signals Vt1 and Vt2 of the first and second sensors 120a and 120b. An example of such a method of determining contact information will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, respectively.

8 and 9 are flowcharts illustrating operations of a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

First, referring to FIG. 8, the first and second sensors 120a and 120b recognize a transmission signal St by contact (S1). The first and second sensors 120a and 120b generate the detection signal Vt by processing the transmission signal St such as filtering (S2). The first and second sensors 120a and 120b determine the number of contact positions with respect to the transmission member 110 using the processed detection signal Vt (S3). The number of contact positions with respect to the one transmitting member 110 can be determined from the number of sensing signals Vt generated by at least one of the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b connected to the one transmitting member 110. Can be.

As a result of determining the number of contact positions, if the number of contact positions is one point, the position of one point, that is, coordinates is calculated and output (S4), and the contact strength is calculated and output (S5). The method of calculating the contact strength will be described later. If the number of contact positions for one transmission member 110 is two points, the position of the first point and the position of the second point are grasped (S6, S7), and the coordinates of two points are output (S8), and the contact strength of the two points is obtained. Outputs (S9). Similarly, when the number of contact positions for one transmission member 110 is three points, the positions of the first point, the second point, and the third point are detected (S10, S11, S12), and the coordinates of three points are output (S13), and 3 The contact intensity of the point is output (S14). As described above, when there are a plurality of contact positions with respect to one transmission member 110, the position of each point may be grasped to output coordinates, and the contact strength of each point may be calculated and output.

Next, referring to FIG. 9, the operation method of the touch panel according to the present embodiment is mostly the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, but the method of calculating the coordinates of each point may be different. If the number of contact positions for one transmission member 110 is two points, one of the two points is set as the reference position and the reference position is determined (S15). In this case, the contact point of the reference position may be the contact point closest to the sensor, for example, the first sensor 120a, on which the reference of the x coordinate is the reference. Next, the distance between the reference position and the remaining contact position point is grasped (S16), and the position of two points, that is, coordinates can be output (S8). Similarly, when the number of contact positions for one transmission member 110 is three points, one of the three points is determined as a reference position to determine the reference position (S17), and the gap between the reference position and the remaining points (S18), The coordinates of all three points can be calculated and output (S13).

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 together with the above-described drawings, for example of a specific method of calculating the position of the contact point, that is, the coordinates according to the number of contact positions. And it demonstrates with reference to FIG. The same components as in the previous embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the same description is omitted.

10 is a plan view of a touch panel when a point of one transfer member of the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention is in contact.

First, a case in which external contact is applied to one first contact point P1 of one transmission member 110 of the touch panel 100 according to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 described above is described. In this case, pressure by contacting the first at least one transfer point P1 may also be applied to the other at least one transfer member 110.

The transverse direction in which the transmission member 110 extends is called the X axis, and the direction in which the first sensor 120a is arranged, that is, the direction perpendicular to the X axis is referred to as the Y axis.

The first y coordinate y1 of the first contact point P1 may be determined as a position on the Y axis of the transmitting member 110 to which the contact is applied. For example, when the contact member 110 to which the contact is applied is the n th transmission member 110 from the bottom, the first y coordinate y1 may have n or a value proportional thereto. In this case, the center position of the vertical width of each transmission member 110 may be determined as the first y coordinate y1. Accordingly, the limit of the error of the first y coordinate y1 with respect to one transmission member 110 may be 1/2 of the width W of the transmission member 110.

The first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1 may be determined as the distance between the first sensor 120a and the first contact point P1 on the X axis. The criteria for determining these x and y coordinates can be equally applied later.

A method of calculating the first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 7 described above together with FIG. 10 described above.

When the transmission speed Vc of the transmission signal St is constant, the first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1 may be calculated by the following [Equation 2].

&Quot; (2) "

x1 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2-T1 |)

L is the distance between the first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b with respect to one transmission member 110, Vc is the transmission speed of the transmission signal St, and T1 is the first sensor 120a in FIG. The time for recognizing the transmission signal St or the output time of the first detection signal Vt1, T2 is the time for the second sensor 120b to recognize the transmission signal St or the second detection signal Vt2 in FIG. Is the output time. The same may be applied to the following description.

11 is a plan view of a touch panel in a case where two transfer members of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are contacted.

Referring to FIG. 11, the first contact point P1 may be positioned between two or more neighboring transmission members 110 so that all of the neighboring transmission members 110 may simultaneously contact each other to transmit the transmission signal St. Then, two or more y coordinates y1 and y2 may be simultaneously output to the neighboring contact member 110. In this case, in order to prevent two or more points from being mistakenly recognized as being in contact, the average of a plurality of y coordinates (y1 and y2) is taken and output as the y coordinates of one contact position, and it is determined that one contact point P1 is in contact. Can be.

In this case, the contact positions of the neighboring contact members 110 may or may not have the same first x coordinate x1. If the first x coordinates (x1) are the same, it is output as x coordinates for one contact location, and if different x coordinates are recognized, the average of a plurality of x coordinates is taken as y coordinates, and the x coordinates of one contact location are obtained. Can be output as

  Accordingly, even when two contacts are actually applied to two neighboring transfer members 110, only one contact may be applied. Therefore, in order to be determined as two or more different contacts, the distance on the Y axis of the two or more contact positions may be twice or more than the pitch of the transmission member 110.

12 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel when two points of one transfer member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are touched, and FIG. 13 is a view of two transfer members of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a plan view of a touch panel when a point is touched, and FIG. 14 is a graph of a detection signal when two points of one transmission member of the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are touched.

12 and 13, two contact points P1 and P2 exist for one transmission member 110, and the first contact point P1 is calculated when the x coordinate is calculated based on the first sensor 120a. The difference between the first x coordinate x1 and the second x coordinate x2 of the second contact point P2 is S.

Referring to FIG. 14, the position T1_1 of the first detection signal Vt1 with respect to the first contact point P1 of the first sensor 120a and the second contact point P2 of the first sensor 120a may be used. The difference between the position T1_2 of the first sensing signal Vt1 with respect to the position T2_1 of the second sensing signal Vt2 with respect to the first contact point P1 of the second sensor 120b and the second sensor ( It may be equal to the difference between the position T2_2 of the second sensing signal Vt1 with respect to the second contact point P2 of 120b).

The y coordinate of each of the contact points P1 and P2 may be determined in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment.

The first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1 and the second x coordinate x2 of the second contact point P2 may be calculated by Equation 3 below.

&Quot; (3) "

x1 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2_1-T1_1 |)

x2 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2_2-T1_2 |)

On the contrary, after the first contact point P1 closer to the first sensor 120a, which is the reference of the x coordinate, is set as the reference position, the first x coordinate x1 is calculated as shown in Equation 3, and then The second x coordinate of the second contact point P2 using the difference S between the first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1 and the second x coordinate x2 of the second contact point P2. (x2) may be calculated as shown in Equation 4 below.

&Quot; (4) "

S = | T1_1-T1_2 | * Vc or | T2_1-T2_2 | * Vc

x2 = x1 + S

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel when three points of a transfer member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are touched, and FIG. 16 is a view of two transfer members of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. 17 is a plan view of a touch panel when a point is touched, and FIG. 17 is a graph of a detection signal when three points of one transmission member of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention are touched.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, even when three or more contact points P1, P2, and P3 exist for one transmission member 110, the coordinates of the contact point at the reference position and the distance between neighboring contact points are determined. The coordinates of each contact point can be obtained.

15 and 16, when the x coordinate is calculated based on the first sensor 120a, the first x coordinate x1 and the second contact point P2 of the neighboring first contact point P1 are respectively. The difference between the second x coordinates x2 is Sa, and the difference between the second x coordinates x2 of the second contact points P2 neighboring each other and the third x coordinates x2 of the third contact points P3 is Sb. It is called.

Referring to FIG. 17, as the distance between the first sensor 120a and the three contact contacts P1, P2, and P3 increases, the first detection signal for the first contact point P1 of the first sensor 120a ( Position T1_1 of Vt1, position T1_2 of first sensing signal Vt1 with respect to second contact point P2 of first sensor 120a, and third contact point P3 of first sensor 120a. The position T1_3 of the first sensing signal Vt1 with respect to) may be sequentially positioned over time. Also, as the distance between the second sensor 120b and the three contact contacts P1, P2, and P3 increases, the position of the second detection signal Vt2 with respect to the third contact point P3 of the second sensor 120b ( T2_3), the position T2_2 of the second detection signal Vt2 with respect to the second contact point P2 of the second sensor 120b, and the second contact point P3 with the second sensor 120b. The position T2_1 of the detection signal Vt2 may be sequentially positioned over time.

The y coordinate of each contact point P1, P2, P3 can be determined in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment.

The first x coordinate x1 of the first contact point P1, the second x coordinate x2 of the second contact point P2, and the third x coordinate x3 of the third contact point P3 are as follows. It can be calculated by Equation 5.

[Equation 5]

x1 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2_1-T1_1 |)

x2 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2_2-T1_2 |)

x3 = 1/2 (L- Vc | T2_3-T1_3 |)

On the contrary, after the first contact point P1 closest to the first sensor 120a, which is the reference of the x coordinate, is set as the reference position, the first x coordinate x1 is calculated as shown in Equation 5, and then the contact is made. The second x coordinate x2 of the second contact point P2 and the third x coordinate x3 of the third contact point P3 using the distances Sa and Sb between the points P1, P2 and P3. May be calculated as shown in Equation 6 below.

&Quot; (6) "

Sa = | T1_1-T1_2 | * Vc or | T2_1-T2_2 | * Vc

Sb = | T1_2-T1_3 | * Vc or | T2_2-T2_3 | * Vc

x2 = x1 + S1

x3 = x2 + S2

In addition, x coordinates of at least one contact position with respect to one transfer member 110 may be calculated through various calculation methods.

Next, a method of calculating contact intensity in a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 18.

18 is a graph illustrating an example of a magnitude of a transmission signal compensated according to a distance between a sensor and a contact position of a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the touch panel 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the contact strength may be determined using the magnitude of the sensing signal Vt or the magnitude E of the transmission signal St and the coordinates of the contact position.

The amplitude and magnitude of the transmission signal generated when a point between the first and second sensors 120a and 120b of the transmission member 110 are contacted are proportional to the square of the distance to the first and second sensors 120a and 120b. Can be reduced. Therefore, by using the physical characteristics, the distance E between the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b and the contact position, that is, the magnitude E of the transmission signal recognized by the first and second sensors 120a and 120b is determined. The coordinates can be used to compensate and thereby determine the contact strength at the contact location.

For example, as shown in the graph of FIG. 18, the magnitude E of the transmission signal and the sensor 120a, based on the magnitude E of the transmission signal detected by the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b. The value proportional to the product of the square of the distance between 120b) and the contact position may be the magnitude of the transmitted signal after compensation. The magnitude of the transmission signal after such compensation can be determined by the contact strength at the contact position. The magnitude E of the transmission signal detected by the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b may be obtained from the magnitude of the detection signal Vt. Alternatively, the intensity of the detection signal Vt may be compensated according to the distance between the first and second sensors 120a and 120b and the contact position instead of the magnitude E of the transmission signal to determine the contact strength at the contact position. .

The contact strength at this contact location can be calculated for each of the contact points P1, P2, P3 in the various embodiments described above. This may be based on the premise that even after experiencing the interference of the transmission signal St, the magnitude E of the transmission signal St depends only on the transmitted distance and is independent of the presence or absence of interference.

As described above, according to various embodiments of the present invention, an accurate contact position may be easily calculated by a simple calculation method regardless of the number of contacts to the touch panel, and the contact strength may be simply calculated using the contact position. In addition, since only the transparent transmission member 110 having a simple structure is positioned on the touch surface, the transmittance of the touch panel may be increased, manufacturing costs may be reduced, and edge areas may be reduced. In addition, since the transfer member 110 may have flexibility, the transfer member 110 may be easily applied and used in a flexible display device.

Next, a touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 19, 20, and 21, respectively.

19 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 20 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention,

19, 20, 21 and 22 are cross-sectional views of a touch panel according to one embodiment of the present invention, respectively. The same components as in the previous embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the same description is omitted.

First, referring to FIG. 19, the touch panel according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is mostly the same as the touch panel according to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, but is disposed on the plurality of transmission members 110. The member 140 further includes a protective film 150.

The protective film 150 may prevent the contact from being disturbed by the gap between the plurality of transmission members 110 spaced apart from each other. The protective film 150 may be made of an insulating material such as glass and may be transparent. The layer between the protective film 150 and the delivery member 110 may be filled with a gas such as air.

The adhesive member 140 may fix the protective film 150 to the touch panel 100 including the plurality of transmission members 110.

Next, referring to FIG. 20, the touch panel according to the present embodiment may include at least one transfer member 111 that is bent at least once and at least one pair of first and first portions positioned below both ends of the transfer member 111. Two sensors 120a, 120b. The transmitting member 111 may be bent several times in a 'd' shape, and the first and second sensors 120a and 120b may be positioned at both ends of each transmitting member 111 and face in a diagonal direction. The transmitting member 111 of the touch panel according to the present exemplary embodiment may be formed by alternately connecting left and right ends of the plurality of transmitting members 110 in the structure of FIG. 1 described above.

Although the touch panel illustrated in FIG. 20 is illustrated as including only one transmitting member 111, the touch panel is not limited thereto and may include two or more transmitting members 111. In this case, each transmission member 111 may include a pair of first and second sensors 120a and 120b.

Two neighboring horizontal parts connected to each other of the transmission member 111 may be spaced apart from each other. The first sensor 120a and the second sensor 120b may be located at the bottom of one end of the two horizontal parts positioned at the upper and lower edges of the transfer member 111, respectively. That is, the first sensor 120a is located at the bottom of one end of the horizontal part located at the top of the transmission member 110, and the second sensor 120b is located at the bottom of one end of the horizontal part at the bottom. can do.

In this embodiment, the contact position at the contact point P1 is the contact point P1 and the first sensor 120a or the first using the temporal position of the detection signal Vt of the first and second sensors 120a and 120b. It can be calculated using the path to the two sensors 120b. The path to the contact point P1 and the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b starts at the contact point P1 and follows the transfer member 111 along the first sensor 120a or the second sensor 120b. It means a broken path leading up to). In addition, the contact strength may be calculated using the magnitude E of the sensed transmission signal St. According to the present embodiment, the number of the transmission members and the sensors 120a and 120b that transmit the transmission signal can be greatly reduced, thereby further reducing the manufacturing cost of the touch panel.

Next, referring to FIG. 21, the touch panel according to the present exemplary embodiment is substantially the same as the touch panel according to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, but the wave absorbing member is disposed at both edges of the transmission member 110. 160) may be further included. The wave absorbing member 160 may be in contact with the delivery member 110. The wave absorbing member 160 absorbs the transmission signal St transmitted through the transmission member 110 to reflect the transmission signal St at the edge of the touch panel 100 and returns to the transmission member 110 again. You can stop it.

Next, referring to FIG. 22, the touch panel according to the present exemplary embodiment is the same as the touch panel according to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 described above, but the absorbing member 105 is positioned between the plurality of transmission members 110. More). The absorbing member 105 may absorb the transmission signal transmitted by each transmission member 110 to prevent the transmission member 110 from transmitting to the neighboring transmission member 110. Absorbing member 105 may fill the gap between neighboring delivery members 110 and may be transparent. Therefore, the upper surfaces of the plurality of transmission members 110 and the absorbing member 105 may be flat without irregularities. At this time, the plurality of transmission member 110 and the absorbing member 105 may be located on the same layer in the cross-sectional structure.

In the touch panel according to various embodiments described above, the sensor 120a and 120b calculates contact information such as the number of contact positions, the contact position, and the contact strength. However, the detection signals from the sensors 120a and 120b are different from each other. Based on the received (Vt) it may further include a separate determination unit for calculating and determining the above various contact information.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

100: touch panel 105: absorbing member
110, 111: transfer member 120a, 120b: sensor
130: support portion 140: adhesive member
150: protective film 160: wave absorbing member
300: display device St: transmission signal
Vt: detection signal

Claims (20)

A plurality of transmission members arranged at regular intervals, and
A first sensor and a second sensor, respectively positioned below the first end and the second end, which are both ends of the first transfer member, of the plurality of transfer members;
Including,
The plurality of transmission members respectively transmit a transmission signal due to contact to the first sensor and the second sensor.
Touch panel. In claim 1,
The delivery member is flexible,
The transmission signal includes a material wave
Touch panel. In claim 2,
At least one of the first sensor and the second sensor that detects the transmission signal generates a detection signal by using a force detection method. 4. The method of claim 3,
At least one of the first sensor and the second sensor includes a reference resistor and a sense resistor connected in series between a first voltage and a second voltage,
Outputting the sensing signal at a contact between the reference resistor and the sensing resistor
Touch panel. 5. The method of claim 4,
The resistance value of the sensing resistor is dependent on the magnitude of the transmission signal. The method of claim 5,
The magnitude of the sensing signal is proportional to the magnitude of the transmission signal. The method of claim 6,
Determining the number of contact positions using at least one of the number of first sensing signals generated by the first sensor and the number of second sensing signals generated by the second sensor,
Calculating coordinates of the contact position using the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the temporal position of the second sensing signal,
Determining the contact strength by using at least one of the magnitude of the first detection signal and the magnitude of the second detection signal and the coordinates of the contact location
Touch panel. In claim 7,
And a touch panel for outputting an average of coordinates of each of the plurality of transmission members that are in contact simultaneously as coordinates of one contact position when it is determined that adjacent transmission members of the plurality of transmission members are in contact at the same time. In claim 1,
A first support portion positioned below the first end of the first transmission member and positioned outside the first sensor, and
A second support part positioned below the second end of the first transmission member and positioned outside the second sensor;
Touch panel further comprising. In claim 1,
The touch panel further comprises a protective film positioned on the plurality of transfer members. In claim 1,
The plurality of transmission members are connected alternately in the left and right ends. 12. The method of claim 11,
The first sensor and the second sensor are respectively positioned at the end of the two transmission member located at the edge of the plurality of transmission member connected to the one. In claim 1,
And a wave absorbing member positioned at both ends of each of the plurality of transfer members. In claim 1,
The touch panel further comprises an absorbing member positioned between the plurality of transfer members. A plurality of transmission members arranged at regular intervals in the first direction, and a first sensor and a second sensor positioned below the first and second ends, which are both ends of the first transmission member, of the plurality of transmission members. In the containing touch panel,
Detecting, by the first sensor and the second sensor, a transmission signal transmitted by the first transmission member, respectively; and
Processing the sensed transmission signal to generate a first sensed signal and a second sensed signal
Contact information determination method of the touch panel comprising a. 16. The method of claim 15,
Determining the number of contact positions with respect to a transmission member by using the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal,
Determining coordinates of the contact position using the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the temporal position of the second sensing signal, and
Determining a contact intensity using at least one of the magnitude of the first sensing signal and the magnitude of the second sensing signal and the coordinates of the contact position;
Contact information determination method of the touch panel further comprising. 17. The method of claim 16,
If the number of contact positions is two or more,
The determining of the coordinates of the touch position includes the step of calculating the coordinates of at least one touch position, respectively. 17. The method of claim 16,
If the number of contact positions is two or more,
Determining the coordinates of the contact position
Calculating coordinates of the reference position among the at least one contact position, and
Calculating a distance between the reference position and the remaining contact position except the reference position among the two or more contact positions;
Contact information determination method of the touch panel comprising a. 16. The method of claim 15,
Determining a first axis coordinate of the contact position using the temporal position of the first sensing signal and the temporal position of the second sensing signal, and
Determining a second axis coordinate of the contact position by using a temporal position of the first sensing signal and a position of a transmission member where the second sensing signal is generated;
Contact information determination method of the touch panel further comprising. 20. The method of claim 19,
And outputting an average of the coordinates of the plurality of transmitting members that are in contact simultaneously as coordinates of one contact location when it is determined that the neighboring transmitting members are in contact at the same time.

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